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.T.. n. STANLEY. STEERING WHEEL LOCK.

APPLICATION FJLED OCT. 3. I918v Patented May 20, 1919.

wi/imzoo s PATENT orF cE.

THEODORE STANLEY, 035 DETROIT, MICHIGAN, AS SIGNOR .TO LELAND LOOK COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

STEERING-WHEEL LOCK.

Application filed October 8, 1918. Serial No. 256,719.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, THEODORE D. STAN' LEY.

citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michig'an, have invented acertain new and use- Stee-ring-Wheel Locks,

-proveinent on that described in my applica:

tion for Letters Patent filed August 7,1918, Serial No. 248,668, and it particularly relates to the latch or bolt housed in the gear case,employed vto prevent the unauthorized removal of the cover from the gear case when the gear carried by the stub shaft of the steering wheel has been raised and supported in demeshed relation to the remainder of the planetary gearing ;the gear when lowered into meshed relation "with the latter being adapted to cooperate in the control of the steering post.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a verticallymovahle bolt pivoted to a rocking arm, in. turn actuated by a flange carried by the stub shaft of the steering wheel,the construction being such that the bolt may be automatically raised whenthe steering wheel is lowered, or when released from the control of said flange upon the steering wheel being manually raised, will automatically force the bolt down into the gear case and in mesh with the teeth of the internal gear. If it should however not be inexact, registration with the teeth of the internal gear when lowered it will immediately enter and engage them upon an attempt to turn or unscrew the coverin which the latch is supportedfromthe gear case. r

A further object of the. invention is to provide a construction by which the latch cannot be forced upwardly to a position whereby the cover may be' removed-from the gear-case through the manipulation of Specification of Letters Patent.

accompanying drawlatter and the gear case broken Patented May 2c, 1919.-

thetractionwheels of side to the other in orderto act upon the steering post and thus upon the planetary gearing for the purpose of causing the latch or 'holt to .be forced upwardly due to the thrust of the ears upon the latch through their rotation found possible in other devices ofa somewhat similar nature.

ack and forth ;'as has been It will thus be seen that the latch will Q efi'ectively serve to prevent the removal-of the gear cover 'byany maliciously inclined person in an attempt to tamper with the mechanism whereby the steering wheel is maintained in an inoperative relationto the post.

With the, foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction and arrangement of parts and in the details of constructionihereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes may be made in the precise embodiment ,of the invention herein described without-departing'from the spirit of the same. 5

p In the accompanying drawings";-

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation through a fragment of a steering wheel or post, showing the steering wheel inoperative control of the post, and the latch for securing the cover of the gear case against removal in released position.-

Fig. 2 is a similar sectional elevation showing thesteering wheel supported in released relatio to the steering post and the latch loweredgo secure the cover of the gear case against nemoval.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken .on line 3-8 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is-a plan view of the gear case with the 'ccwer removed-but indicated in dotted linesshowing the annular plate carried by the cover and located'between the away to disclose the internal gear 'below,with which the latch is adapted to mesh;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view. of the latch Referring now to the letters of reference placed upon the drawings r r denotes a steering wheel and A? its hub keyed to the shaft B. Qindicates a pinion carried by the stub shaft normally in mesh with a plurality of gearsD, carried v. the gear is lifted out of upon studs E, secured to a plate F, at the top of the post F into which the lower end of the stub shaft extends.

G, is a gear case having an internal gear G on its inner periphery with which the gears D are in mesh.-

The foregoing is descriptive of a well known steering further explanation here.

H, denotes an annular cover secured upon the gear case G, adapted to receive the pinion C, when manually lifted out of mesh With the gears D, by the steering wheel A. I, is a flange-or washer carried by the stub shaft directly above the pinion C, and when mesh with the coactin planetary gears is lodged in the re cess 1 in the gear case cover H.

J, is an annular plate secured to a shoulder in the cover H, by screws J K is areshaped swinging arm pivoted at r? to the annular plate and is adapted to close over the flange I to maintain the pinion C in mesh with the gears l),when the steering wheel is in position to operate the steering post,and to swing under the i'iange to su port the pinion C and steering wheel A in a free or released relation to the operation oi: the steering'post,.ss fully descrioed in i v application for patent previously referred M, denotes a latch. or bolt pivoted to an operating lever N which is in turn pivoted in upstanding walls cast integral with the annular plate J.

P, indicates a spring mounted on the shaft P forming the pivot of the lever ll, the ends of which respectively bear upon the operating lever N and the latch or bolt M, and serve to raise the lever that it may he acted upon by the fiangel, when e stee wheel is lowered into operative Lu ..ti 1 the steering post. The spring also acts force the latch or bolt downward, when the oper ating lever N is released from the control-- ling action of the flange l, whereby it operated.

The bolt M, is preferably constructed with one or more gear teeth M designed to enter between the teeth of the internal gear G on the rinner periphery of the gear case when lowered into position to insure against the removal of the cover from the gear case.

Having indicated the several parts byreference letters, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood.

To render the steering wheel inoperative for actuatingg the steering post, the areshaped arm is actuated by suitable key mechanism (not shown) so as to permit the pinion C, to be manually lifted by means of the steering wheel out of mesh with the planetary gears D. Upon the flange 1 entering the recess H of the cover, the spring actuated latch M is free to move under the action of its spring downwardly into the gear and will require no neonate gear case and in mesh with the internal gear (fi -but should it not register exactly w ith the teeth of the internal gear when released any attempt to remove the cover of the gear case will cause the bolt to instantly articulate with the teeth of the internal gear, as will be readily understood, thus securing the (lover against removal. "The means for supporting the steering wheel with the pinion carried by the stub shaft in an operative or inoperative relation to the steering wheel shaft forms the subject matter of my application for patent previously referred to and therefore requires no detailed description here aside necessary to give a proper understanding of the resent invention.

l" aving thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1V a device of the character described, the combination. of a steering post .fixed against lengthwise movement, a gear case carried by said post, a removable cover screwed to said case, steering wheel su ported by a stub shaft adapted for lengthwise movement with reference to the steering post, planets-r gearing housed in the is post, means for maintaining the heel in an operative or inoperative relation to the post, a reciprocating bolt supported in the gear case, adapted to enter between the to prevent their operation, and a separate spring pressed latch member cooperatively connected with the bolt and actuated by the alternate reciprocating movement of the stub shaft for controlling the operation of the bolt.

'2. In a device of the character described, comhination of a steering post fixed t lengthwise movement, a gear case can, d by said post, a removable cover screwed to said case, steering wheel supported by a stub shaft adapted for lengthwith reference to the steerwise movement ing post, planetary gearing housed in the case for operably connecting the stub shaft with the post, means for maintaining the steering wheel in an operative or inoperative relation to the post, a reciprocating bolt supported in the gear case, adapted to enter between the gears to prevent their operation, a tilting arm pivoted to the bolt, means carried by the stub shaft adapted to act upon the tilting arm, and a spring between the bolt and the tilting arm for actuating said parts when released from the control of said means carried by the stub shaft.

In a device of the character described, the combination of a steering post fixed against lengthwise movement, a gear case carried by said post, a removable cover screwed to said case, a steering Wheel su ported by a stub shaft adapted for lengtli wise movement with reference to the steerfrom that gearing housed in the case connecting thestub shaft with the post,

post, a reciprocating bolt having teeth adapted to enter between the gears and engage the teeth of the internal gear, aotilting arm housed within the gear case and pivoted to the reciprocating bolt, a spring adapted to act upon the bolt and tilting. arm, and a flange carriecl by the stub shaft to control the action of the tilting arm and reciprocating bolt.

n testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

THEODORE D. STANLEY.

Witnesses: S. E. THOMAS.

ARTHUR F. LEDERLE. 

